To hit someone with a car or other vehicle and injure or kill them.
He was run down while crossing the main road.
'One of our witnesses has already had the misfortune to be rather badly run down while cycling, and I've had a natty-looking box of chocolates by post from an "unknown friend" myself,' replied the inspector.1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries:
2
To criticize someone or an organisation, often unfairly.
Whatever the company says, the media is going to run them down.
My sister is always running me down in front of my friends.
3 more examples
Don't run yourself down so much!
Ha! ha! ha! 'tis very hard for them to leave a subject they have not quite run down.1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, I.i:
Since I have put my name in GCN and received my first paper, I have only received two letters. But the one that pissed me off […] was from Bible belt hypocrite. He sent me an envelope full of tracts about homosexuality. Well, I have this to say to whoever he is (The person that's got nothing better to do than get the GCN to see who he can run down should take a damn good look at himself).1981 February 14, Richard Credill, “Take Him By The Hand”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 29, page 5:
3
To find something or someone after searching for a long time.
I finally managed to run down that report. I had filed it incorrectly.
4
To lose power slowly. Used for a machine, battery, or other powered device.
You need to wind up the clock every day so that it doesn't run down.
If you don't switch off the car lights, you will run the battery down.
5
To read quickly a list or other short text.
Running down the list of suggestions, I can see three we can discard immediately.
6
To describe in the form of a rundown, a rough outline or summary.
When the minute was up, John Jay managed to make the woman twice as nervous as he ran down the rules and the possibilities.2013, Nora Roberts, The Name of the Game:
7
UK To reduce the size or stock levels of a business, often with a view to closure.
The board of directors have decided to run down the stocks held in storage prior to offering the company for sale.
Before you move, you should run down your food supplies in the fridge, freezer, and pantry to use up as much as possible.
1 more example
Social media has been full of strident criticism of a Government perceived as pursuing a conscious policy to run down - even destroy - our railway.2022 November 30, Nigel Harris, “A bid to break the other side?”, in RAIL, number 971, page 3:
8
To decline in quality or condition.
to run down in health
TravelWatch SouthWest Chairman Chris Irwin said: "This is intolerable. The South West deserves levelling up, not running down. SWR and its sponsors in the Department of Transport must be called to account."2022 January 26, Paul Clifton, “"Intolerable" service cuts under emergency COVID timetables”, in RAIL, number 949, page 8:
9
Hobbies, Hunting, Lifestyle To chase till the object pursued is captured or exhausted.
The Jylland only missed running down a schooner by a few yards in the fog; it was a near thing—near enough, in fact, to allow of some shouted remarks between those on the bridge of the motorship and the man at the wheel of the schooner to be clearly heard.1943 May and June, Chas. S. Lake, “Some Continental Travel Experiences (1922-1939)—III”, in Railway Magazine, page 143:
Hiei now loomed into the action, causing the leading U.S. destroyers to scatter before the oncoming behemoth lest they be run down.2021 March 10, Drachinifel, 14:35 from the start, in Guadalcanal Campaign - The Big Night Battle: Night 1 (IJN 3(?) : 2 USN), archived from the original on 17 Oct 2022:
11
To crush; to overthrow; to overbear.
Religion is […]run down by the prevailing licence of these times.1736, George Berkeley, A Discourse addressed to Magistrates and Men of Authority:
12
Slang To approach (someone, thing or place) aggressively, as to attack.
The task was made trebly difficult, however, by the badly run-down condition in which the railways of Britain had been unavoidably left at the end of the war in 1945, […].1958 January 23, 'Borderer', “Ten Years of British Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 12:
In the Seventies the system was run-down and demoralised. Road transport was the future, the Underground was being 'managed for decline', and the system was filthier than the streets above.2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page xiii, Preface:
1 more example
Among its findings, the report says: "In recent years we have seen more stations transformed from run-down Victorian hulks, or spartan bus-sheltered platforms, into places that people can take pride in, feel comfortable in using, and which are fulfilling more of their wider potential.2020 August 26, “Network News: Stations investment boosts regeneration, says report”, in Rail, page 17:
3
Of a clockwork mechanism Having the spring unwound.